Last evening a few teams, for rather complex reasons, decided to tank their badminton matches at the Olympics. If you watch the video of the event, it's comical and a little perturbing, because the Olympics is supposed to be all about the passion of athletics. The crowd was pretty upset and it really put a black mark on their sport.
What happened next was eye-opening, however. The Badminton Federation let them have it, booting the teams out of the Olympics.
On Wednesday, the Badminton World Federation ejected eight doubles players from China, South Korea, and Indonesia for trying to lose on purpose. The federation charged them
under sections 4.5 and 4.16 of the organization’s Players’ Code of
Conduct: “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” and “conducting
oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the
sport.”
"You cannot allow a player to abuse the tournament like
that, and not take firm action,” Craig Reedie, International Olympic
Committee vice president and former badminton federation chief, told the
Associated Press. “So good on them."
Afterwards, the expelled teams went home. All is said and done.
Hmmm..... “Conducting
oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the
sport.” Where have we heard that one before?
If this happened in racing, we'd likely see a different result.
The players in question would immediately appeal, so they could play the next day, allowing their ruse to come to fruition, angering both opponents and the fans. If another injunction came where they might not play the next day, the players would've likely contacted the Badminton's players union, and they would've come to their defense with gems like "you can't deny their ability to make a living". Other badminton players who think like they do would've probably rallied around them with excuses like "They're nice people and maybe they didn't really mean it" or "the commission rules are unfair, so I agree with what they did".
In the end, if it were racing, two teams probably would've been playing for the Gold medal and both of them would be on the podium to get their medals, with an incredulous public wondering who in the hell is minding the store in this crazy sport.
But it's not racing. The Badminton Federation kicked them out. Out meant out.
They're hired.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Trafficked, Last 12 Months
-
Welcome to the 8th edition of the Monday Super Spectacular Blog! It was Preakness week and frankly instead of a horse racing pool, next yea...
-
Last week's inaugural Super Spectacular Monday Blog got a lot of hits, and not just from Russian bots (although cпасибо to all Russian r...
-
I continue to be fascinated with both the press and general football fan reaction to the Bill Belichick 4th down decision in Sunday's ga...
-
On the Harness Edge this morning, I see that there is a story up about the BCSA offering their members up for driver and trainer interviews ...
-
Welcome to the Super Spectacular Blog Vol 5 . Thanks for reading and sharing this disorganized barrage of thoughts and links each week. Ti...
-
We'll all remember Memorial Day '24 because of the Met Mile as the day Ray Cotolo dressed up like a hot dog. Hope @RayCotolo au...
-
Last night's Uncle Bill twitter spaces, where TVG's Fanduel's Mike Joyce joined some raucous horseplayers was, well, kind of in...
-
I was outside awhile back and noticed some kids playing with the pigskin. They flipped me the ball and I sent one kid on a fly pattern. I ga...
Similar
Carryovers Provide Big Reach and an Immediate Return
Sinking marketing money directly into the horseplayer by seeding pools is effective, in both theory and practice In Ontario and elsewher...
No comments:
Post a Comment